I have the blue one from last year and it is very heavy!!!! I am not using it this year as I am buying a NON-CGA Jetpilot A-10 or Falcon. It was just a very heavy jacket BUT it provided great impact resistance!!! My cousin has the non-cga SWAT and he blows off of him all the time!

The SWAT will come unzipped when you fall. It also tends to ride up on my torso. I just bought a Liquid Force Impact vest. Great mobility with the arm holes. Fits great and doesn't come un done when I eat it.

Agreed, the non -CGA SWAT sucks. It rides up bad and will unzip a little on most falls , on hard falls there's a good chance it will come right off, kind of a scary feeling when it happens. I saw mine blow out of my boat on the way home from a trip....didn't even bother to turn around and get it.

Well I think the non CGA is a great vest, I've tried a lot of different brands and I like the feel of the swat. Its all your personal choice. Just make sure you buy one ther fits properly an you won't have problems.

I bought the 06 Flak at the boat show yesterday. It has a back brace built into it. Does anyone have this vest? How do you like it? My wife got the Josh Sanders Swat. It's all silver so she liked the looks. It doesn't have the back brace. After reading this post, it sounds like it might ride up on her. We'll just have to try them out.

the nevin NCGA swat is the most comfortable vest I have ever had, yet it completely rips off on easy falls. A complete lack of R & D on Nevin's part. In buying the non CGA swat, you may risk your safety on the water for comfort

Personally, I love my Helium 'Josh Sanders' Edition non-CGA jacket. I have never had these problems you'a are talking about: coming right out of the jacket on a fall (even average fall). I haven't even had the zip unzip itself partially, never mind all the way down. And I can't see how it can unzip itself if the valcro strap is done up. I love it.

Sweet as Ryan. If I had read about the SWAT vest here before I made a decision I don't think I would have bought one. My little sister bought the standard SWAT vest and the difference in attention to detail in the 'Josh Sanders' edition is just amazing. The stitching around each "floaty bit" (excuse my english), I couldn't even find a piece of string that was fraying, whereas the normal SWAT vest wasn't as tidy. Just little things like that made me realize how good it was. Apparently they've only got 5% less buoyancy than a normal CGA life vest, but it's the flexibility that makes it feel not so buoyant as a normal life vest, so don't get scared of this because they are supposed to be worn with a wet suit. Well that's my verdict...